Photo Safari in Black and White - AGFA APX Pan 100

After the demise of the original Fuji Acros 100 (of which I still have 1 roll left!) my fav B&W film has become AGFA APX Pan100.

This is a very reasonably priced black and white film.  I picked some up from Walkens House of Film on line shop for about AU$9 for a roll of 36 exposures.  

It is a nice, finely grained film.  It has a good exposure latitude and won't blow out the highlights on a bright day but also keeps detail in the shadows.  It produced some lovely crisp, contrasty tones which means I rarely adjust contrast digitally for this film.  Those tones are also assisted by the smooth sharpness of the film, characteristic of a fine grain.

The majority of these photos were taken on overcast and rainy days.  The light was down a bit but I shot at box speed (100 ISO) and didn't overexpose (as many film photographers will suggest). Still, the low light didn't impact the grain as much as it will on some films

I loaded the film months ago into a Minolta X-700 camera and shot with a Minolta MD 50mm f1.7 prime.  It's a great little lens and has given me some wonderful photos.  Because of Covid-19 isolation I didn't get out to have the film processed and scanned until some of the restrictions were relaxed a bit.  When I got the film and scans back, it was sorta like unwrapping presents at Christmas and getting a nice surprise on seeing how well it had gone.

Most of these photos were taken on Lunchtime Safaris, as I call them.  I go out with my camera at lunch and go for a walk.  Some were taken on an 'introduction to society' day out with our new Schnoodle puppies Archie and Daisy.  They were very well behaved!

Newcastle (Australia), is just a hive of building activity at the moment.  Cranes dot our cityscape for new buildings going up everywhere.  Roads are blocked off for the upgrading of utilities for the new buildings and there are really cool big boys toys working on clearing out old buildings to make way for the new.  Happy to say though that, for most buildings, the facade of the older building is being kept to maintain the heritage look of the CBD, which is great.

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Breakfast at Cafe Inu with my daughter one morning.  Egg & Bacon Roll and Cappuccino!

Cafe Inu at Carrington.

Daisy & Archie had so much fun on their 'Introduction to Society' day out.  They are
Schnoodles (Schnauzer X Poodle) and were 17 weeks old in this photo.

When I walk through the City Arcade in Hunter Street, it's like going back in time!

The old Signal Box building has been turned into a restaurant.  Haven't eaten there yet but
it is on the list.  I do have a photo of the Signal Box when the heavy rail
ran into town and I will post a before and after story one of these days!

Minolta X-700 and Fuji Superior 100

I finally got out to my lab and dropped off a couple of films I'd had hanging around since the beginning of the year.

I'm pretty proud of myself for handling the anxiety of having these films sit on my desk, teasing me, begging me..... to be taken out for development and scanning throughout the period of Covid-19 isolation!

Finally, I considered that it had to be done; and thus it was!

These are taken from a trip we had to Coffs Harbour just before the Public Health Isolation orders were put in place.  We scraped in by the skin of our teeth!

Most of these are from the town of Bellingen; one of the great little places on the Waterfall Way in NSW.  Different styles of architecture, a lovely leafy town with the Bellinger River running through it.  A buzzing  little town showcasing both older and newer alternate lifestyles.

Following the Waterfall Way east will lead you onto Ginnagay Way which took us down to Urunga, another beautiful small town south of Coffs Harbour.  It has the cleanest looking caravan park we have ever seen!  It also has a great boardwalk from the town, along the water where the Bellingen River meets the Kalang River before they both flow out to sea.  The boardwalk is built over the wetlands where the two rivers meet, and takes walkers out to the headland where the river joins the sea.  It is a little over a 1 kilometre walk and is well worth the effort!  If you walk along there at low tide there are thousands of tiny blue Soldier Crabs that will come out to greet you as you walk along!  I did write about them in a previous blog post where I showcased my new Canon 90D camera.  Be sure to check out that post as well!

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All Rights Reserved